Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Though it hadn’t been more than five minutes since I’d left the building, confident that I wouldn’t need his help, I activated the “Mage’s Help Voucher”. I gasped for air, huffing after my dash up the stairs.

Cold silence met my cry for help. Surprisingly, Winter was still standing right where I’d left him, in front of the doorway. His navy-blue pupils were wide, and my face reddened like a tomato under my mask. I was so glad I still had it on. I’d lamented how useless it had been wearing it, but now felt relieved.

“Please close the door and come inside,” Winter said after a moment of stunned silence, stepping aside to let me through. I cleared my throat awkwardly. Damn it, this is embarrassing. Fighting a wave of embarrassment, I hurried to close the door.

As I pushed the door shut, I scanned the dark alleyway outside for any sign of Derrick, but he was nowhere in sight. Did I lose him? I wasn’t out of the woods yet, though. If he returned home and found that I wasn’t in my room, I was done for.

“I’m sorry to change my mind so suddenly, but the favor you offered is still on the table, correct?”

“Of course,” Winter replied easily.

“I’d like to take you up on it, then. Please take me to Hamilton Street immediately.” The words tumbled out of my mouth all at once. I was in a hurry—I had to get home before Derrick. Since Winter was a magic user, I was sure he must have some method of instant transportation.

“Hamilton Street...” Winter seemed to mull the address over in his mind.

Where else would I want to go? Hamilton Street was one block away from Eckhart manor. Since he already knew my identity, I could have asked him to take me directly to my room. It would certainly have been more convenient. I needed to continue pretending I was clueless, however. After today, I would never see him again after all.

“I can’t seem to find a carriage, since there are so many people out and about on account of the festival,” I mumbled stiffly after a moment’s pause.

“You didn’t bring an escort with you?” His eyes peered at me through the rabbit mask, deeply serious. I considered my only personal knight, whom I’d left back at the manor. Though I’d told him he was to be my guard, I had never had any intention of having him perform those duties.

Since I’ve decided that he’s my only way out, I need to be even more careful with him. I wasn’t going to tell Winter any of what was going through my mind though, so I shrugged and demurred.

“Can’t a lady have her secrets?”

Winter cast one last suspicious glance my way but accepted my answer without further comment. He produced his wand from the folds of his coat and held his hand out to me.

“Please take my hand.”

As I’d hoped, he seemed to be readying himself to perform a spell. What a relief. I placed my hand in his, and he gripped it firmly. At the same time, a white window popped up in my vision.

<SYSTEM>

You have used [Mage’s Help Voucher x1].

<SYSTEM>

Traveling to [Hamilton Street].

“You might feel a little dizzy,” he warned gently, and then all I could see was white.

* * *

When I opened my eyes, Winter and I were standing in a quiet alleyway I was very familiar with. He’d teleported us to Hamilton Street. Good. That should give me a head start on Derrick. I smiled, satisfied. Then an odd thought struck me. We’d been transported by Winter’s magic, but it felt identical to when I’d used the game’s teleportation function in the past. I felt a puzzling sense of déjà vu.

“You can let go now,” Winter murmured, standing beside me.

“Huh? What do you mean—”

“You’re still holding my hand,” he clarified.

At his words I glanced down and realized that I was holding his hand tightly, our fingers interlaced. “Oh gosh!” I dropped his hand hastily and backed away several paces.

Wait. How did our hands end up so entwined? Seeing as I’d practically thrown his hand from mine, I suddenly felt sorry and wondered if I’d been rude. In any case, he’d helped me in my time of need, so I thanked him sincerely.

“Thank you for helping me.”

“Don’t mention it. I’m glad I was able to repay you,” Winter said, shaking his head modestly.

“I certainly find you more trustworthy now,” I said, laughing at how seriously he took repaying his debts. Considering he was a marquess, it was surprising that he would defer so politely to his customers for the sake of his business. He really was living up to the stereotype of an eccentric mage. Winter gave me an odd look.

“Does that mean you’ll continue to make use of our services?”

“Well... I’m not sure about that,” I said, the smile fading from my face as I gazed at him. “I doubt we’ll have many occasions to meet again.”

The cold night air blew through the alleyway as we stood regarding one other, each of us hiding our identity behind a mask. He probably has no idea I know who he is. It was for the best that I didn’t disabuse him of this notion, both for my sake as well as his. He’d soon discover the female protagonist, after all. His knowing would do neither of us any good.

“Goodbye,” I murmured, turning away. I was about to leave the alleyway when his soft voice reached my ears, carried by the wind.

“If... I deliver the things you gave me...”

I stopped in my tracks.

“And receive a message for you in return… would you allow me to deliver that message to you?”

I glanced back at him. There was something eerie about the rabbit mask, its white surface seeming to float in the darkness. “No,” I said simply. I did not know what his expression looked like beneath the mask, but I could see his affection score.

[Affection Score 15%]

It was surprising to watch his affection grow despite my firm rejection.

* * *

Parting ways with Winter, I immediately rounded the corner and hurried toward the manor. Or to be more precise, I rushed to the high wall that surrounded it.

“I’m sure it was around here somewhere...” I murmured, frantically searching the wall with wide-open eyes. I was looking for the secret opening. Because the wall was so enormous and the lighting so dim, it was hard to make anything out in the gloom. I’d broken into an anxious sweat—worried that Derrick might soon return by the time I finally found it.

I hurriedly crouched in front of the hole, which was so narrow that I almost had to crawl on my belly to pass through it. After lowering myself as best as I could, I was about to shove my head through when I heard heavy footsteps approaching.

“Penelope Eckhart,” said an icy cold voice. “So, it was you.”

I froze where I lay on my belly. Please... I mentally prayed to every deity I could remember, begging for an escape from this unfortunate reality. Please tell me I’m hallucinating. But there were no gods in this damned game.

“Get up right now,” demanded the voice, and it was almost as if I could hear him grinding his teeth. The piercing blue of his eyes shone in the darkness and seemed to glow brighter even than the words “[Affection Score 13%]” hovering above his head. I was completely thunderstruck at his absurd timing.

“H-how...”

“You’re the only girl who’d parade around wearing such a silly mask. Of course, I recognized you,” Derrick barked with an unamused laugh.

He had immediately understood my questions: How did you know it was me? Why did you chase me all the way here? Silly? My temper flared, but I forced myself to bow my head quietly. The glowing words shimmering above his black head of hair were enough incentive to bite my tongue.

“Why are you like this?” Derrick demanded to know, scowling fiercely. “Tell me. I let you attend the festival when you were adamant you had to see it at night. I also overlooked the fact that you brought home a slave from god knows where because you insisted you needed someone to protect you.”

“...”

“What dissatisfies you so much that you’re sneaking out again?” Derrick reminded me of my last attempt to slip away without an escort. Sadly, I had no explanation for him even as he pressed for answers.

“Sorry...” I kept apologizing over and over like a parrot that only knew how to grovel. It’s not like I was actually at fault, but there wasn’t really anything to be done about it. I couldn’t very well tell him the truth—that I was desperate for a way to escape both him and Reynold. “Whatever punishment you decide on, I’ll accept it without a word of complaint, Lord Derrick.”

“Punish me, give me a punishment? What is it with you and punishments?” My strategy to always just apologize no longer seemed to work on him. His temper flared, and he snapped with a glower, “That’s all you ever do. Ask me for punishments.”

“Well...”

“Do you enjoy being punished? Is that it?” he asked irritably.

I was taken aback. Who enjoys being punished? Of course, I didn’t want to be constantly chastised. He grabbed my hand before I could reply.

“Come.”

“Huh? What?”

He dragged me along behind him, giving me no chance to protest. Wait, what is happening? What penalty do you have planned this time? His sudden outburst honestly frightened me. I hadn’t expected he would ever initiate physical contact like this, not when he hated Penelope so much.

“Where... are we going?”

“...”

“Lord Derrick?” I asked, my eyes glued to his affection score. He gave no answer. Ha! I’m having such a terrible day... I wondered if I should throw myself at his feet and beg. Nothing seemed to be going according to plan, and I was getting sick of it.

Wait. I may be his despised, fake sister, but he wouldn’t run me through with his sword like the crown prince just because I left the manor a few times, would he? I tried to look at the positive side of things—I needed to right now. A chilling thought occurred to me though.

He might not kill me with his sword, but he could bring about my demise in other ways. For example, he could drag me into the manor and tell everyone what I’d been up to in my silly mask, as he’d described it. He could magnify every minor mistake I’d made, causing everyone else to hate me, including the duke who’d adopted Penelope. That was what had always happened when I’d selected the wrong choice in the game.

Ugh. Whatever. Do your worst, I thought, resigning myself to my fate. There was nothing I could do now. I had plenty of experience with being kicked around and bullied in the real world, and I knew better than to resist. I wasn’t like Penelope, who’d always screamed and fought back every inch of the way, only causing her to reach her ill-fated ending more quickly. I completely surrendered and just followed wherever Derrick led me.

He was headed toward the manor’s front gate, just as I’d expected. The guards stationed in front of the closed gate recognized him and bowed deferentially. Up until that point, I had assumed he was leading me inside.

“Huh?”

Derrick walked right past the gate, however. Where in the world is he going? I gaped at the back of his head, my eyes wide. The anxiety I’d barely managed to suppress exploded.